In the Buddhist tradition there's a concept of a blue sky mind.
A mind that is vast,
Spacious,
Calm and clear.
Always there but hidden by our thoughts and our emotions.
Mindfulness meditation helps us to develop a capacity to rest in awareness,
Support concentration and stabilize and clarify the mind.
It cultivates spaciousness to observe without reacting and wisdom to see things as they are.
So let's get into a comfortable sitting position,
Kneeling,
Lying a position that is most comfortable for you for the next half an hour.
Establishing your posture as best you can.
If you're sitting with both feet on the ground,
Hands open apart resting on the knees or thighs.
Back upright,
Neck lengthened and chin slightly tilted forward and allowing the shoulders to just droop a little.
Upright but relaxed,
A quiet dignity in this position.
If you're laying down you might want to place a pillow underneath your knees to support the lower back.
And when you're ready and if you're comfortable gently closing your eyes.
Albert Einstein said no problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.
So let's work with the mind by getting a sense of the body.
Taking a moment to observe how we are.
Is the body feeling tight or loose?
If it's tight can you soften it?
And the mind,
Is the mind contracted or released?
Is your state irritated or peaceful?
Can you stay present just in this time right now?
And noticing the breath.
Feeling each breath as it moves in and out of the body.
The rise and fall of the chest and belly as the air enters and leaves.
Inhaling,
Pause,
Exhaling moment by moment.
Just listening to my words.
Allowing yourself to dip in and out of this guidance and return to the breath as you need to.
There's no right or wrong way to do this practice.
Right now just breathing.
Aware and awake to the fact of breathing and following my words as best you can.
Noticing any distractions,
Any sounds or thoughts that stick and when you become aware,
Simply releasing them,
Letting them go.
Our minds awareness is boundless,
Not constricted by the conditions of the body,
Of the senses.
Let's move our awareness now from the breath to sounds.
Just hearing what there is to hear in and around us.
Sounds arising and disappearing and hearing happening automatically without effort quite naturally.
The lips are – As you listen,
As you breathe,
As you see the thoughts come and let them go,
As you notice now the sensations of your body,
Allowing your attention to be caught and then letting go.
And now let's turn to a sense of the mind.
Your mind is not limited to the inside of your head.
The mind is vast,
Like a big blue space that we can open into,
Like the sky,
Endless.
In this space we can let experiences arise without boundaries.
Imagine the mind now,
Expanding to be like the big blue space,
Open and endless.
There's a subtle difference between thinking a thought and being aware of a thought.
There's a weightier sense of physical and energetic feeling tone of experience when thinking.
It has a slightly obsessive quality that can pull you in and take control of your consciousness.
When you're simply aware of a thought,
The feeling tone is much lighter.
There's a slight resistance,
And because it has no reactivity to feed it,
No grasping to it,
No pushing away,
It can appear and disappear with ease.
Imagine now a consciousness that is free of conditions,
Just pure awareness.
Let it expand and extend in all directions.
No inside or outside,
Just awareness.
Relaxing,
Letting sounds come and go,
Sensations come and go,
Thoughts and images come and go.
No resistance,
No concern at pleasant or unpleasant,
Just noticing thoughts as they appear and disappear.
Maybe imagining thoughts as clouds,
Some tiny and light,
Some with more substance,
But all of them appearing,
Dispersing or moving on and disappearing into this big blue space.
And any time you feel spacey or sleepy,
Just coming back to the breath for a while.
All thoughts,
Images arising and managing like sounds,
No resisting their arrival,
No holding on as they disperse.
Worries and fears,
Joys and sorrows,
Coming and going like clouds in the sky.
Sometimes many clouds fill this big blue space and can obscure the clarity of mind,
But the space does not mind,
It's just the space.
Noticing,
Observing and being aware of the comings and goings of thoughts and images.
Just letting each thought,
Each image,
Each sensation arrive,
Disperse and disappear into this big blue space of your mind.
Because all of us exist.
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